When Donald Trump is sworn in as America’s 45th president Friday, Jan. 20, at least six members of Congress from Southern California won’t be there.

They’re among more than 20 House Democrats across the nation who have announced plans to skip Trump’s inauguration in Washington, D.C.

In at least some cases, their decision comes in response to Trump’s criticism of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.

After Lewis called Trump an illegitimate president, Trump, a Republican, took to Twitter to write that Lewis is “all talk, talk talk – no action or results” and that the congressman “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape.”

Trump’s response angered Democrats, who said the president-elect insulted a hero of the civil rights movement as Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday approached.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, used Twitter to post a picture of Lewis marching with King with the words “All talk, no action.”

“I stand with (Lewis) and I will not be attending the inauguration,” Takano tweeted.

In a telephone interview Monday, Takano said he planned to quietly skip the inauguration until Trump tweeted about Lewis.

“I yield to the transition of power,” Takano said. “But I can’t pretend, as a member of Congress sworn to uphold and protect people’s liberties, that this is a normal transition and that I’m confident that Donald Trump is going to lead in a way that befits the office.”

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, also mentioned Trump’s criticism of Lewis in explaining why he wasn’t going to attend the inauguration.

“While I do not dispute that Trump won the Electoral College, I cannot normalize his behavior or the disparaging and un-American statements he has made,” Lieu said in a news release.

Others from Southern California who said they are skipping the inauguration include Reps. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Downey and Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.

“After much thought, I have decided to #StandWithJohnLewis and not attend the inauguration,” Chu wrote on Twitter.

In published reports, Roybal-Allard was quoting as saying that Trump’s “disparaging remarks” about women, Mexicans, Muslims and other groups “are deeply contrary to my values.”

In a telephone interview, Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-La Quinta, said that instead of going to the inauguration, he plans to be in his district so he can attend a veterans’ event.

“I believe that it’s very important to respect the office of the presidency,” Ruiz said. “The problem is, I believe, that Donald Trump does not respect the office of the presidency or respect the American people.”

Not all Southern California Democrats are skipping the inauguration. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, plans to attend, although a spokeswoman noted he also plans to participate in the Women’s March on Washington the following day.

Jeff Horseman got into journalism because he liked to write and stunk at math. He grew up in Vermont and he honed his interviewing skills as a supermarket cashier by asking Bernie Sanders “Paper or plastic?” After graduating from Syracuse University in 1999, Jeff began his journalistic odyssey at The Watertown Daily Times in upstate New York, where he impressed then-U.S. Senate candidate Hillary Clinton so much she called him “John” at the end of an interview. From there, he went to Annapolis, Maryland, where he covered city, county and state government at The Capital newspaper before love and the quest for snowless winters took him in 2007 to Southern California, where he started out covering Temecula for The Press-Enterprise. Today, Jeff writes about Riverside County government and regional politics. Along the way, Jeff has covered wildfires, a tropical storm, 9/11 and the Dec. 2 terror attack in San Bernardino. If you have a question or story idea about politics or the inner workings of government, please let Jeff know. He’ll do his best to answer, even if it involves a little math.

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